Antwoord - Joost Klein

9.

I was deep in work mode on the backseat of my own car driven by Aggu. I went to bed at 3 in the morning and woke up at 5 to keep working. I knew Aggu had already talked with Joost, but I couldn't deal with the thought of not committing to my work completely.

I didn't want to cut slag on my work so I could have a talk with someone. I cherish my friendships a lot and wanted to put more effort into them. However, it was so hard when I knew that friendships weren't going to be the one supporting me financially.

I hated to admit it but I had always been afraid to run out of money. I would always have parents to go back to but I never wanted to depend on anyone financially. My goal was to be able to care for myself for the rest of my life, not to the point where I needed to have a big mansion, fancy car, and personal butler. I just wanted to be happy and that didn't equal being super rich.

I mean just look at how my parents turned out?

"Joost said he was cool with it, you seriously don't have to do this" Teun said from the front seat.

Aggu and Teun had taken a plane earlier where I had picked them up in the airport but switched seats with Aggu. I was determined to get as many venues settled before we got to Friesland.

"It's fine Teun. I only need to get 5 more German shows settled and then I can relax" I told Teun and then went on another phone call while my computer was in my lap.

"Fine but please don't stress yourself out about it" Teun gave me a caring look as I held the phone up to my ear.

I nodded at him, but it was the least of my concerns if I stressed myself about it. I only got stressed if I didn't get work done so in reality this was really good for me. I needed to keep myself busy.

"Do you want to stop for some breakfast?" Aggu asked us.

"Nah I'm not really hungry" I didn't even pay attention to him. I was focused on something else.

I kept on being on hold on the phone by this one venue. It was starting to get on my last nerves that I wasn't able to get through to them. It was one of my personal favourite concert halls in Germany, and my dream venue to be able to book, so it was very important for me to be able to book it.

"I'm not asking you, you're eating something no matter what. Teun how about you?" Aggu gave me staggering eyes through the rearview mirror.

I rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness. I didn't need him to tell me what to do. I was doing so good on my own now that I was out of the hospital. I ate whenever I felt like it, which was much healthier than being forced to eat up to five times a day.

Five times a day was overdoing it. No person needed to eat that much. Especially not me, I needed a few meals a day and maybe a little snack. I never ate breakfast, well I used to when I was a kid and we lived back in Lisse. Back then breakfast was my favourite meal of the day but over the years I realised how unnecessary it was.

You only really needed one and a half meals a day, which was lunch and then just a little portion for dinner to get you through the night. My mother taught me that from a young age how to balance out your meals, so not only would you look good, but you'd feel good.

Her version of feeling good was feeling skinny and the only way you could feel skinny is by feeling the hunger. That was the only way you knew that you were right on track.

"Hello?" Someone on the other line finally said.

"Yes, hello. This is Eleanor Roosvelt. I represent Ski Aggu and I'm in the middle of planning a tour for him and this Dutch artist called Joost Klein. I would like to know if you have any open spots in July?" I asked.